Every week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it's up to you to help him or her out – a selection of the best answers will appear in Saturday's paper.

This week's question

A distressed young woman approached me at a bus stop in south London, saying her boyfriend had attacked her and she needed £4.40 for a train home. She insisted she wasn't a junkie. I gave her £5. As my bus pulled away, I saw her asking other people for money. I felt duped. What should I have said or done? Or might she just have been telling the truth?